


Compromise

by obviouslyelementary



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Conversations, Family, Friendship, Gen, I love them so much, Insecurities, Light Angst, its logince but not romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-10 02:21:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16461614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obviouslyelementary/pseuds/obviouslyelementary
Summary: After the video "Learning about ourselves", Roman isn't 100% yet, and Logan decides that if someone needs to talk to him about their situation, its him.He is going for a compromise.





	Compromise

Honestly, Patton couldn't remember the last time he was that proud of his boys like he was at that moment. The video they had done with Thomas, holy molly, it had been perfect for the mood to be lifted between them! He was so proud of Thomas for opening up about what he was feeling, so proud of Virgil for taking a little more control and trying – even if a little too harshly – to put things in perspective and organize the mess that was Thomas' heart at that moment, and even more proud of Logan and Roman.

They were finally, _finally_ taking a step back from their extremely egocentric heads and seeing each other, actually paying attention to each other's needs and wants. They could finally work together as they were meant to do. And maybe they would get to a comfortable middle ground, where Roman could be proud of his work and Logan could be satisfied with the end results.

But everything was still very recent, and for now, they all needed to calm down, take a deep breath and relax. Thomas had just left to edit the video with his friends, and the four of them had just sunk into their own little world, but apparently none of them were about to go to their rooms. Virgil seemed very distracted with his fidget cube, Roman was staring at his feet as if he was thinking about something, and Logan was mumbling in anger because he couldn't go back to his non-puppet form.

"Want some help there buddy?" Patton asked softly, approaching the teacher. "Roman, Virgil, please come help?"

"Awn brother..." Virgil groaned and approached them while Roman looked up and slowly made his way closer to the group. "Seriously L, you can't get out of this form? Dude..."

"Listen Virgil, if I could I wouldn't be making this hole drama about it" Logan responded with a growl and lifted his puppet arms in distress. "Damn it! I will be stuck like this forever!"

"Of course not Logan, don't be silly" Patton laughed and looked around. "Okay, I don't see a turn off button... can't you concentrate and go back?"

"That is what I have been trying to do for the past minute Patton" he answered, coldly, just before Roman approached him and touched his arm. At the simple touch, Logan turned back to normal, and Roman stepped back with a small smile.

"There. Done" he said, softly, and Logan took a deep, relieved breath.

"Thank you Roman, I couldn't stand be a puppet for another second" Logan responded, checking himself and fixing his tie. But then he stole a glance at the prince, that had the most peaceful, quiet expression he had seen. "Roman?"

"Yes?"

"I just thanked you, aren't you going to... explode in self-praise?"

"I'm not feeling like it honestly" he shrugged and crossed his arms. Virgil and Patton shared a worried look, but remained quiet, while Logan simply blinked a few times and then sighed.

"Did I do something wrong again?" he asked, frustrated, and Patton smiled nervously.

"No, no no one is doing nothing wrong! We are just stressed because of the new video! Maybe we should make some food, eat some dinner!" he offered, but Virgil gave him a look that indicated he should be quiet, and he shut up immediately.

"Roman, come on, open up. We just had this conversation man" Virgil said, a little angry. "We made a whole video, a whole song about this subject. We thought the problems were solved"

"Virgil, you know very well that insecurities cannot be cured from a moment to the next, it’s a process" Logan spoke up in defense, and Virgil rolled his eyes but agreed with a nod and a sigh. "So Roman, that being said, you can..."

When they turned back to the prince, he was gone. Patton looked around, worried, while the other two looked around confused.

"Honestly?" Virgil groaned, and Patton shushed him with a lifted hand.

"Virgil, calm down. Everyone deals differently. You also disappeared when you were feeling insecure" he said, and Virgil crossed his arms, huffing.

"I hate it when you're right" he mumbled and nodded. "Lets go find our dramatic friend. Come on"

"No" Logan called out, and both Patton and Virgil stopped in the middle of moving to look for the prince. "Leave it to me"

"You?" Virgil asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"You?!" Patton asked, his eyes wide and a smile growing on his face.

"Yes... I am the main problem, I should go and solve it" Logan said, like the mature side he was, and looked at them. "It's my judgment that makes him feel like this. I should try to convince him that I don't mean it"

"But do you? Because a lie is worst than the harsher truth" Virgil asked, hesitant, and Logan sighed before looking at the anxious side.

"In truth I do not know. But maybe talking to him alone will benefit both of our relationships" he said, and then looked at Patton. "Make us a delicious dinner. I will be right back with our royal counterpart"

"Have fun and be careful with him please. And with yourself" Patton said, tapping his shoulder before Logan nodded and sunk down, in search for the prince. Virgil watched him leave and frowned before looking at the father.

"Do you think this will work?" he asked, worriedly, and Patton shrugged.

"It might not work at all. But they need it" he explained, and nodded towards the kitchen. "Help me?"

"Sure pops" he nodded and Patton squealed in happiness.

\-----------

As he had projected, Logan arrived at Roman's room, that without Thomas' presence looked more like a room in a castle that anything else. He looked around, looking for the prince, and when he saw him, he felt his body tense up and he fixed his tie before approaching.

Roman was in front of his desk, his huge desk, filled with papers with what seemed to be ideas for videos, some others that were drawings and sketches for those same videos, and with even more coloring books. At the moment, he seemed to be painting some Disney princess with some crayons, but he didn't seem really focused on what he was doing.

Logan found his attention locked in a huge clock in front of the desk that said '-48 days'. Minus 48? What did that mean?

"Roman?" he called after approaching, standing next to the prince. Roman stopped his painting section and tensed up before continuing to color the princess. "Can we talk?"

"Didn’t Virgil say we solved the problem already?" he asked, quietly, and Logan sighed, looking around before pulling a random chair he found and sat down next to the prince.

"Well to him everything is simple and easy, and honestly I wish things could be like he said, but you and I know it can't" he said, and crossed his leg. "So, I am swallowing my pride and coming here to talk to you. Alone. Seriously"

"Because with you everything needs to be serious" Roman responded, immediately, and changed the crayon color, painting the princess' hair. Logan took a deep breath so he wouldn't start a discussion right there and then with Roman. That wasn't the point. The point was to talk about their feelings and solve their problems.

"You can sing, you can dance, you can do anything, lets just talk about this" Logan said, frustrated, and crossed his arms. "In case you haven't noticed after this video, the reason you aren't proud of your projects is my criticism like you said, and the reason of my criticism is because you aren't proud of your projects because they are bad. So if we can find a solution to both problems, by compromising, maybe things will work out again"

"It worked before" Roman said, stopping his coloring and putting his crayon down, but not turning to face Logan. "Why can't it keep working?"

"What do you mean?" Logan asked, confused, leaning back against the chair as Roman sighed loudly and rubbed his eyes.

"It worked two years ago when we started this. It worked for months, a year even. Your constant pressure and my constant content" he said, frustrated and angry, and let his hands fall against the desk, sighing once more and turning to face Logan, his eyes bright and tired. "We used to work like this, with the contrast. I couldn't work with Virgil, he was my main problem. You couldn't work with Patton. But you and I always worked so nicely together. What changed?"

Logan stopped, staring deep into Roman's eyes and making himself the same question Roman was making him. Well, it was true... Before, this constant giving and taking, pushing and pulling between them worked, and very nicely. Before, Roman couldn't deal with Virgil's negativity towards his work, while Logan couldn't take Patton's excessive feelings put into the mix. So what changed? What made their beneficial partnership fail that badly?

As he couldn’t find an immediate response, he simply shook his head and set the thought away.

"I don't know what changed, I can't think of anything right now, but the truth is that we need to talk more. Communicate more" he said, calmly, but Roman simply looked down, and shrugged weakly. "Roman..."

"What?"

"We have to talk. Talk"

"What do you want me to say? That I'm sorry? I've already said that" Roman said, angry and upset, turning towards his desk again and lifting his hand, touching a button at the screen that said '-48 days' and turning it into '0 days'. "I don't know what you want from me Logan. Honestly"

"Roman, talk to me!" Logan said, frustratedly, his voice going louder without him meaning to. But the anger was already getting to his system. "For God's sake just open up! We need to talk!"

"Why don't you start then?!" Roman asked, angrily, and turned to Logan. "Since you're the 'oh so smart' and now you want to pretend to be benevolent!"

"Roman I've already said what are my problems with your ideas, they are stupid!" Logan said loudly, uncrossing his legs and leaning forwards. "No one takes them seriously! No one talks me seriously, and no one takes you seriously either!"

"I don't want people to take me seriously"

"Roman please, of course you do" Logan chuckled dryly. "You talk about me but any joke thrown your way makes your insecurities crumble in front of you and you become defensive. Like you are being right now. Can we please just stop wondering around the problem and shoot at it already?"

"I want you to stop being so mean towards my creations!"

"We talked about this in the video, I will be less critical of your works. I promise. But we need good content and we need it fast alright?"

"Yes, I am aware"

"Good"

"Great"

The two of them shut up again, looking down at their feet. Wonderful. They had reached the same problem from before, and nothing seemed solved.

Logan really sucked when it came to feelings.

"The reason..." Roman suddenly began, and Logan looked up at him, surprised. "The reason why we don't work anymore... is because I care about what you think now"

"What?" Logan asked, even more confused, and Roman sighed, looking up at the ceiling.

"I... I used to be confident on my work. I used to know what I was doing, in the beginning. I could work hours and hours on end and believe in the story I was telling. But then, Virgil's criticism came and I started to doubt what I was doing. Maybe I needed more research to talk about something else and I needed you to help me but my pride didn't allow me to ask... so I just... did it alone, hoping you would like it. But you never did. And since you and Virgil didn't like it, and Patton always took your sides, I... just felt like I was doing things wrong. So I couldn't work for more than one hour without wanting to start over again, and I began to get late on schedules, until it all came crashing down in a snow ball. And now we are here"

"Oh..." Logan mumbled, and Roman sighed, lowering his head and looking at Logan with a tired expression.

"Sorry. I'm sorry I can't be up to your expectations" he mumbled, and sniffled quietly, wiping his suddenly teary eyes. "I'm just overworked and tired lately"

"Roman... ugh you're making me feel weird" Logan said, confused and upset, and Roman chuckled between sniffles.

"Is it a good weird or a bad weird?"

"A bad weird. I think guilt is the name of the feeling, I am unsure"

"Logan, could we just... make a compromise? Of talking instead of demanding?" Roman asked, softly, and Logan stared at him before nodding.

"Of course. Talking is the best weapon against fights and wars" Logan agreed, smiling a bit and making Roman smile back. "Also, I promise to never throw a paper at you again"

"And I promise to never give you reason to do so in the first place"

The two of them chuckled a bit and Logan smirked, standing up.

"I'm glad we talked" he said, honest, and Roman agreed with a nod. "Now, however, we must go back and eat some of Patton's delicious food"

"That would be wonderful" Roman smiled and stood up, wiping his eyes once more and nodding towards the door. "Shall we?"

"We shall" Logan nodded and walked towards the door, followed by the prince, leaving behind the ideas and the timer and relaxing a little bit.

Sure, it wouldn't be a conversation that would change anything. But they were in the right track.

At least it felt like they were.

The edge of the puzzle had been found.


End file.
